Tax motorists more to help save the planet

Motorists should pay higher taxes in the form of a national road-pricing system to cut carbon dioxide emissions, according to the Government’s climate change advisory body.

The speed limit on all motorways should be strictly enforced and may have to be reduced to 60mph to help to meet the Government’s legally binding carbon reduction targets.

The Committee on Climate Change, which devised the targets and advises the Government on how to meet them, says that a “step change” is needed in emissions reduction. In its first annual report to Parliament , the committee says that emissions cuts since 2003 have been “far slower than now required to meet (carbon) budget commitments”. Emissions fell by an average of 0.5 per cent in each of the five years to 2008. The committee says that emissions cuts of 2-3 per cent a year are needed every year from now until 2050 to meet the targets.